[Slightly edited version of a 2015 post on this blog’s Blogspot predecessor]. The autism community has become increasingly concerned about understanding people with no spoken language, and often, severe developmental delays. Such people have previously been excluded from many research studies, in favor of more convenient subjects. However, psychology offers…

In a recent webinar, ADHD coach and mother of an ADHD son Laurie Dupar introduced the concept of a “tipping point.” In her coaching practice, Laurie met many people diagnosed as adults as late as middle age. Often, they had functioned well in school, at work, and in their relationships…

[Edited version of a post on the old Blogspot blog from 2015]. Experts have long claimed that autistic people learn and use language differently than other people. What is language in autism like, and is there anything unique about it at all? Morton Ann Gernsbacher, Elizabeth Grace, and I investigated…

[Edited version of a post on the old Blogspot blog from 2015]. When autism first appeared in the “diagnostic Bible,” the 1980 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, one of the few criteria for diagnosis was “gross deficits in language development” (APA, 1980). Autism was once associated with: “marked abnormalities in the…

[Reposted and slightly edited from a 9/22/14 entry in the old Mosaic of Minds blog]. In a post catchily entitled “Warning: This Post Will Change Your Brain,” Neuroskeptic describes media coverage that breathlessly reports that a single dose of an antidepressant changes the brain. As Neuroskeptic points out, evidence from…

Over the past few decades, both autism and trauma have become better understood and more frequently diagnosed. Researchers, clinicians, and autistic people themselves all perceive a relationship between autism and trauma. However, we don’t yet know why or how they’re related. A variety of explanations have been proposed: Do autistic…

“What if you were told the way you experience the world is wrong? What if they told you the way you move is wrong? What if they told you the way you talk and think and write is wrong? What if you could never say no? What if this was…

What is Participatory Research? — Imagine an autism study where autistic people themselves determined the question to be asked, and worked with researchers to design the study methods, collect the data, and interpret the results. Such an arrangement is called participatory research. In participatory research, “control over the process and agenda…is handed over from the…

Disclaimer: This is an opinion piece originally intended for a personal blog. I am not describing the scientific consensus on ADHD, although to the best of my knowledge, research supports my theory. Stay tuned for links to relevant research studies, which I will add gradually as time permits. When people…